Soldiers in cocaine shock

THE Army loses almost a `battalion a year' due to illegal drug use, said research published today. The findings also showed a four-fold growth in soldiers testing positive for the class A drug cocaine.

THE Army loses almost a `battalion a year' due to illegal drug use, said research published today.

The findings also showed a four-fold growth in soldiers testing positive for the class A drug cocaine.

Research into compulsory drugs testing of service personnel identified a rise in positive tests for illegal substances in the Army from 517 individual cases in 2003, to 795 in 2005 and 769 in 2006.

The findings, published by the Journal of the Royal United Services Institute, said the cost is nearly the equivalent of losing one battalion a year and higher than fatalities and serious casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Christianne Tipping, defence management analyst from RUSI, said testing existed `to deter rather than to try to catch every single person who might engage in occasional drug use'.

"It also helps to maintain operational effectiveness and reduce possible security risks, such as blackmail," she said.

But she said the MoD needed to be sure its near-zero tolerance approach remained the best way of managing the problem of drug abuse in the forces.

She said it was `important to stress that drug misuse in the forces as a whole involves relatively low numbers'.

Prof Sheila Bird, a senior scientist with the Medical Research Council writing for the RUSI Journal, believed that the big rise in positive cocaine tests could be the tip of the iceberg.

The rate is up from 1.4 per 1,000 in 2003 to 4.0 and 5.7 per 1,000 in the first semesters of 2006 and 2007 respectively - up to a four-fold increase.

Researchers said the government refused, on cost grounds, to disclose key data into testing practice, such as whether there have been subtle changes in test practice since 2003. Changes might include better test sensitivity, more testing after weekends, or intentionally targeting returnees soon after leave.

Such alterations could help explain the increased rate without much underlying change in soldiers' infrequent cocaine use, researchers said.

But they added that if there has been no alteration in testing practice, the cocaine-positive results are worrying.

In 2003, cannabis accounted for half of all positive tests, with cocaine at 22 per cent. But by 2006, about 50 per cent of positive tests registered cocaine and cannabis about 30 per cent.

A MoD spokesman said: "Drug misuse is not widespread in the forces - it is incompatible with service life and is not tolerated.

"Statistics demonstrate that drug misuse is significantly less prevalent among service personnel than in corresponding civilian groups."